Highway Safety Analysis: Engineering

1. Federal Highway Administration Highway Safety Analysis:Engineering Kenneth Epstein, P.E. Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety Programs Safety Data and Analysis Tools Workshop March 28, 2006

2. Presentation Topics • Safety Analyst • Interactive Highway Safety Design Module • Highway Safety Manual • Digital Highway Measurement System • New Approaches to Highway Safety Analysis course

3. Highway Safety Improvement Program Policy—Each State shall develop and implement on a continuing basis, a highway safety improvement program which has the overall objective of reducing the number and severity of accidents and decreasing the potential for accidents on all highways.

4. Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users • Established the HSIP as a “core” program • Funding substantially increased ($5.06 million over 4 years) • Requirement for Strategic Highway Safety Plans that provide a comprehensive, collaborative and data-driven approach to highway safety • Greater flexibility

5. Requirements for an EffectiveHSIP • Identifying candidate sites for improvement • Diagnosing the nature of the safety problem • Selecting appropriate countermeasures based on an economic appraisal of benefits • Prioritizing the implementation of improvements • Evaluating the effectiveness of improvements

6. SafetyAnalyst & IHSDM

7. SafetyAnalyst Will provide state-of-the art analytical tools for use in the decision making process to identify and manage a systemwide program of site-specific improvements to enhance highway safety by cost-effective means

8. SafetyAnalyst Modules • Module #1- Network Screening • Module #2 - Diagnosis and Countermeasure Selection • Module #3 - Economic Appraisal and priority ranking • Module #4 – Evaluation

9. SafetyAnalyst Website www.safetyanalyst.org

10. Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) • The IHSDM is a suite of software analysis tools that support project-level geometric design decisions by estimating the expected safety and operational performance • Current Version—Released in 2004 • Facility Type—Two-lane rural roads

11. IHSDM Evaluation Modules • Policy Review • Crash prediction • Design Consistency • Intersection Review • Traffic Analysis

12. IHSDM Future Plans • 2006: Updated release for two-lane rural highways • 2008: Release with crash prediction capabilities for: - Two-lane rural highway crash prediction - Urban & suburban arterial crash prediction - Multilane rural highway crash predicition

13. Additional Information on IHSDM www.tfhrc.gov/safety/ihsdm/ihsdm.htm

14. Highway Safety Manual HSM Purpose: To provide users with the best factual information and tools in a useful form to facilitate roadway planning, design, operation, and maintenance decisions based on explicit considerations of their safety consequences

15. HSM Targeted Users Primary Users • Front-line decision makers • Analysts studying the effect of actions on road users • Planners, designers and those responsible for operations and maintenance Secondary Users • Management • Educational Institutions

16. Proposed HSM Outline • Part I – Introduction and Fundamentals • Part II – Knowledge • Part III – Predictive Methods • Part IV – Safety Management of a Roadway System • Part V – Safety Evaluation

17. Digital HighwayMeasurement System • An instrumented vehicle that uses multiple, state-of-the-art technologies and computer analyses to provide accurate and efficient analyses of roadway geometry and pavement conditions • Collects raw highway data and processes the data into readily usable electronic data files

18. DHM Vehicle • Prototype vehicle has been developed. • The vehicle keeps pace with traffic and can gather the necessary information without causing traffic congestion or placing surveyors at risk. • Information can be collected at extremely precise levels.

19. DHM Data Currently Collected • Horizontal and vertical alignments • Roadway and roadside video from two digital cameras for eventual automated inventories of most highway features • Detailed cross-sections including ditch sections and safety hardware location and identification

20. DHM Pooled Fund Project Goals of Pooled Fund Project • To finalize development of the existing vehicle and vehicle specifications • Explore the incorporation of new sensors and algorithms that expand the number of items measured and/or the accuracy of the data collected • Develop a second van

21. Additional Information Office of Research and Development Website www.tfhrc.gov/safety/safety.htm

22. New Approaches to Highway Safety Analysis Course Purpose—To help participants gain an understanding of the Highway Safety Improvement Program processes, safety engineering principles, and human factors issues relative to traffic and road safety

23. Course Information • Course offered through the National Highway Institute • 3-day course (1½ days of “core” materials and 1½ days of case studies) • Case studies for Roadway Departure, Intersection-related crashes and Pedestrian-related crashes

24. Course Scheduling National Highway Institute • Website: www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov • Contact: Sherron Monts (703-235-0534)

25. Questions?